Noble flipping?

[MisterUbu]

A few lessons from another hobby sector.
1. The public is most fickle and what is hot ATM, may not even be part of any conversation a few months from now.
2. Beware some opportunist who takes something to a country that does not recognize any of the legal protections enjoyed by makers in America, and commissions a clone that they retail for a tenth of what the original sells for. They may eventually get shut down, but by that time there could be so many clones in circulation demand for the original will be too small to support any effort to produce them.
3. some very clever young engineering student figures out a way to circumvent any patent protection and produce the same product, or close enough that their much lower price will kill demand for the original.

I’ve seen those three scenarios play out multiple times in the radio control model hobby/profession.

2 and 3 pretty much happen on the regular with bass/guitar pedals. On the bass side, you're able to buy a ethically dubious copy of a Humboldt Bass Simplifier for 1/3rd of the price of a real one on Alixpress under the LyRock Brand. DemonFx is another chinese brand who have made it their entire mission statement to copy Darkglass pedals copping a very similar sound, and amongst others you can also find copies of a Cali 76 compressors for a price that's hard to resist.

It's nothing new, but an "alternative" way to get expensive pedals at a bargain is to buy the pcbs that are suspiciously similar and wire them up yourself installing it under a blank enclosure, or buy them off someone else who has already done so, as a DIY pedal.

 

[BobDeRosa]

They have. They're twice the price they cost five years ago.

Sounds like it's time to go up again.

 

[Obese Chess]

There is in fact already a Nobel clone available to DIYers, as with so many other pedals these days.

Is that the Nobelium? That thing looks sweet.

 

[Passinwind]

Is that the Nobelium? That thing looks sweet.

I know nothing...

 

[Obese Chess]

Oh right, of course. A what?

 

[Ric Vice]

Speculation markets selling boutique bass gear are fraught with peril, like the sands of time they shift constantly. Beware of being caught in a sandstorm. Just my take.

 

[brianrost]

There used to be a market like this for Walter Woods amps. Because of the long wait times (I was on his list for over three years) it was possible for owners to sell their amps for the exact same price as a new one. In fact, Walter suggested to me that because of his backlog on the model I wanted I should look for a used one and I did.

I knew a guy in Miami who was dealing used WW amps and got a like-new one in a week, paying him exactly what I would have paid Walter.

 

[mikeGJ]

$5500 OBO.

 

[ToneMonkey]

If $700 will make that big a difference in the quality of your life, sure why not. Go all in. Take a second out on your house. Caution is for losers.

 

[Koog]

Stick with rockets.

 

[eddododo]

Um, I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. Event tickets can be "scalped" because there's only a finite number of them. But anyone who wants a Noble can get in the 10-month queue and pay only the retail price. The supply, while not ubiquitous, is, at least for the foreseeable future, not finite. Flipping Nobles is simply taking advantage of the impatience of customers who don't want to wait out the build time.

boy, wait til you find out that the builder and his business are finite

 

[eddododo]

I was more using you as a vehicle to say something funny!

Absolutely not, I must rage and complain and overexplain in every corner of the internet.

 

[fhm555]

2 and 3 pretty much happen on the regular with bass/guitar pedals. On the bass side, you're able to buy a ethically dubious copy of a Humboldt Bass Simplifier for 1/3rd of the price of a real one on Alixpress under the LyRock Brand. DemonFx is another chinese brand who have made it their entire mission statement to copy Darkglass pedals copping a very similar sound, and amongst others you can also find copies of a Cali 76 compressors for a price that's hard to resist.

It's nothing new, but an "alternative" way to get expensive pedals at a bargain is to buy the pcbs that are suspiciously similar and wire them up yourself installing it under a blank enclosure, or buy them off someone else who has already done so, as a DIY pedal.[/QUOTE

2 and 3 pretty much happen on the regular with bass/guitar pedals. On the bass side, you're able to buy a ethically dubious copy of a Humboldt Bass Simplifier for 1/3rd of the price of a real one on Alixpress under the LyRock Brand. DemonFx is another chinese brand who have made it their entire mission statement to copy Darkglass pedals copping a very similar sound, and amongst others you can also find copies of a Cali 76 compressors for a price that's hard to resist.

It's nothing new, but an "alternative" way to get expensive pedals at a bargain is to buy the pcbs that are suspiciously similar and wire them up yourself installing it under a blank enclosure, or buy them off someone else who has already done so, as a DIY pedal.

Except for a tuner, I’m pedal free, but electronics in small enclosures are common across many hobbies and I’ve seen some serious hosing in the radio control segment. Given the prices being discussed here, I can only imagine how one would be tempted to speculate.

 

[Jtown690]

I love all TB threads about Nobles.

 

[pfschim]

Why do you get worked up about what I get worked up about?

Well, I'm not the one where it "Took all I had not to post a snide comment on their thread". Glad you were able to (barely) keep control of your emotions on that as it's a pretty dull move to make snide replies on others for sale ads.

 

[pfschim]

I love all TB threads about Nobles.

yeah, there have been several of these this year where folks get agitated about Noble prices, and evidently some TB members really get a bee in their bonnets at the idea that someone might sell a piece of gear for more than they may have originally paid.
oh well

 

[Jtown690]

yeah, there have been several of these this year where folks get agitated about Noble prices, and evidently some TB members really get a bee in their bonnets at the idea that someone might sell a piece of gear for more than they may have originally paid.
oh well

FR. Man, I’m gonna have chatGBT design a Noble competitor. 2 band boost. One at 420hz and one at 690hz. then I’ll have it built in India and I’ll sell it for $210 on dealdash.com.
man, whoever buys the real one that’s hand made by a super cool guy here in the United States is an idiot

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Why aren't there any real clones out there? I suspect it's because the design takes 110V (or 220V) AC power instead of 9V DC and that cuts the hobbyists that might build one.

 

[retslock]

I’d never heard of them until just the other day here on TB. I don’t doubt it’s a nice sounding unit but the bulk and the price rules it out for me. Does that help your plan? It’s niche market if ever there was one.

 

[nonohmic]

Well, I'm not the one where it "Took all I had not to post a snide comment on their thread". Glad you were able to (barely) keep control of your emotions on that as it's a pretty dull move to make snide replies on others for sale ads.

Dull enough to get you fired up behind the keyboard, apparently.